Picket Guard

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For Sufferfest 2014, we originally settled on hiking Electra Peak from Mammoth but changed our minds to the extra-remote Picket Guard Peak via Mineral King on the west side. It seemed more in line with the Sufferfest standards. It would be my third and final trip up the windy road to Mineral King for the summer. I hustled up the road after work on Friday to pick up 4 permits at the ranger station and to grab a camp site at Cold Springs. Dan, Matt, and Jack arrived later that night. 

We were hiking by 8 the next morning, hoping to make it all the way to the unnamed basin just to the northwest of Picket Guard Peak before dark. About 18 miles and 7,000' away, much of it off trail... To speed things up, we took every non-essential thing out of our packs, including tents. Without water, my pack weighed 17 lbs. 

Descending Hands and Knees Pass

We made it to the top of Glacier Pass by 10:00, to the top of Hands and Knees Pass by noon, and to Big Arroyo by 2:00 and headed north toward Nine Lakes Basin from there. The north part of Big Arroyo reminded me of Upper Basin. 

Route up Pants Pass from the Nine Lakes Basin

At Nine Lakes Basin, we took a long break and discussed the possibility of camping where we sat and climbing Kaweah Queen the next day instead of Picket Guard. In the end, we mustered up the ambition to hike up the extra loose and steep Pants Pass at the east end of the basin. From the top of the pass we caught our first views of one of the most remote area in the High Sierra. The descent was incredibly loose and steep. The basin below had no trails and practically no signs of humans having been there, besides the guy camped at the same lake 
as us. We camped under the stars at a large unnamed lake. 

Picket Guard Peak from Pants Pass

Lake below the peak

The next morning we got up at 5:30 and continued east toward Picket Guard. At the lake immediately below the northwest face, we paused to take photos of the sunrise and to contemplate the route. We settled on a class 3 route directly up the northwest face, though we descended a ridgeline further to the east. We paused at the summit for about 30 minutes to take pictures. A small fire could be seen across the Kern River, somewhere near the JMT. The summit register dated back to 1963. 

At the top

Looking east

Looking northeast-ish

Looking north

Looking north.  Kern Point is on the right-hand side.

Looking northwest

Looking west toward Pants Pass

Looking southwest toward the Kaweahs

Kaweahs

Looking south

Looking south

Hanging out at the top

Descending Pants Pass to Nine Lakes Basin

Nine Lakes Basin

After the north ridge descent, we hiked back to camp, packed up, and started the greuling hike back to Mineral King. We randomly ran into Jake and Katy Stoesz at the Big Arroyo cabin and hiked with them for a bit. We made it back to Mineral King just as it was getting dark.